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Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Special Announcement, New Layout, and everything else

Hello friends!

It's been a very, very long time since I've posted to this blog. For starters, there hasn't been anything new to talk about. I haven't been writing as Jessica Sankiewicz since I wrote Not Until Tonight. But I have been writing... under a pen name. I announced last year that I had been writing as Lilly Avalon. The books written as Lilly are more contemporary (sexy) romance than the clean YA/NA that I write as Jessica Sankiewicz. I wanted to differentiate between the two, and keep them as separate as possible until I needed to. Last year when I went to my first author event, I announced it so people who may recognize me as Jessica would know I'm also Lilly.

I wanted to come on here and fill everyone in on what has been going on in the world of Jessica. The first thing is that I got married! It's been a whirlwind year and two months with Kyle, but we're extremely happy. We've both been staying busy by selling on eBay, plus my Etsy store. I dropped a day at work, which means I can dedicate more time to creative ventures and other projects (like, I don't know, keeping up with this blog, lol).

I actually have a few projects in the works. Here's one...

Jessica L. Tate, Poetry

One of the dreams I've had for years is to publish my poetry. It was always a pipe dream since poetry hasn't been a hot commodity since ebooks became huge. I still had been planning the possibility, at least so that I could hold a copy in my own hands. Recently there's been a rise in poets putting out compilations of their work. So I decided that it's finally time to put my work out there.

I'll be publishing the poems in smaller compilations under the name Jessica L. Tate, which is my married name. I have a Goodreads profile and my first compilation, Now You Can See, can be added to your Goodreads shelf. If you're interested in either beta reading or reading an ARC, you can sign up here for the chance. I also have an Instagram account for my poetry if you would like to take a look and follow.

New Layout

As you've probably noticed, this blog has gotten a new layout. I didn't want to create a separate blog for my poetry, so I chose to change up this blog to add it in as a side project to go along with my fiction writing.

Here's the old layout:

And here's the new:

It feels a lot lighter and fits the combination of both my writing ventures (minus the pen name, of course). I haven't changed anything with the tabs or links just yet to add in the poetry venture, but I'll get to it soon.

My Ko-fi and Future Patreon

I did some research and made some decisions on some new and future endeavors to help supplement/support my writing career. One that I've already signed up for is Ko-fi, which is basically a place where you can donate $3 to someone to help assist in their creative career, kind of like a tip. It's all voluntary, but definitely appreciated if you choose to send a donation that way.

I'm in the process of setting up a Patreon account, which is similar in the sense that the donations help support someone. However, if you donate through Patreon, you get something in return. Each account is different in how the individual person wants to have it set up. There are multiple tiers for monthly donations in increments starting at $1 per month (then possibly $3, and $5, and $10, and so on). For each tier, you get a specific reward. Like for a writer, it can be sneak peeks at upcoming covers, snippets of a WIP, or even exclusive short stories. There are other things offered, of course, but that's basically the gist of it.

I originally planned on launching mine mid-February, but since my husband and I had just moved to a new place and I didn't have enough time to work on the rewards, I figured it would be best to postpone. I'm hoping to have it launched by the summer if all goes according to plan and I have several rewards available to share with my Patrons. Once it goes live, I will let you know!

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Right now that's about it! Once I have more details about my upcoming poetry book, I will let you know. Also, I will be announcing something else on Thursday, so be on the lookout!

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About Me

Jessica Sankiewicz is the author of the New Adult novella series, This Night. You can often find her either reading or marathon watching TV on DVD, her favorites being Castle and Veronica Mars. She frequently mismatches her clothes and giggles uncontrollably. She knows almost every Billy Joel song by heart. She collects books and toys, and she has an intense love of cats and lemurs. Jessica decided when she turned 27 that she would remain 27 forever. Currently in the midst of her quarter-life-crisis, she is still takin' names and getting very close to reaching an epiphany.